Mine Again
by katcelarity
Summary: "It was as if a rope had found its tether once more. But everyone in the room was unaware of it. All they saw was a married man looking at a beautiful woman like he had seen the light." AU adult Chuck and Blair.
1. Chasing Cars

Everything is not always what it seems. Fair warning read this all the way to the end- you will see why.

_If I lay here__  
__If I just lay here__  
__Would you lie with me and just forget the world?_

_Forget what we're told__  
__Before we get too old_

_Show me a garden that's bursting into life_

_Let's waste time__  
__Chasing cars__  
__Around our heads_

_-Snow Patrol_

He saw stars. Bright, but dark. It made him want to look away. They looked cracked to him now. Time moved painfully slow. His days were filled with loveless promises and scripted vows repeated as if he was a broken film. Things had not always been like that though. At one time things were an utter frenzy. When he first met her time had been like a whirl wind and she had literally swept him off his feet. She caught his eye. He chased her. He got her. He married her. But now all he felt was utter nostalgia. He supposed it was the curls. She had the same curls as her. Sleek, effortless, and beautiful. Maybe that is what made him fall for her. A broken attempt to move on that had everything.

His wife was beautiful he supposed. She had green eyes with flecks of gold and long red curls. She was tall with long legs that made other girls stare with envy. Everyone told him she was a knockout. He had agreed with them once, but in the back of his mind he had been skeptical. But then again he had always fancied brunettes. When he looked at her now he felt nothing. That was a lie he supposed, he felt comfort and safety. He felt _loved_. Their love was simple. Their love was patient and kind. It was not hard. He looked at himself in the mirror. Age had agreed with him. He looked down at his suit and felt the tie adorning his neck. His wife preferred ties. _She_ had preferred bow ties. He felt the ghost of a smirk cross his face. He supposed he loved his wife. She suited him. But then again that was just it she _suited_ him. There was a faded edge of a forlorn spark, but there were never flames. There was never fire. Nor would there ever be.

She had left on a Tuesday. It had been raining. It was right after a wedding. A wedding that he had planned as an olive branch to her. She had left him just like all the others. But then again he supposed he had left her first.

He had met his wife in a bar. He was sitting in a velvet chair nursing a long, broken love. He felt like the marionette had cut his strings. He just needed to escape. She came up to him wearing black. He had laughed bitterly and thought of mourning. He was mourning a lost love, maybe she was to. And then he saw her hair. It was long, red and when it shined in the light of the bar he saw the same curls he had once spent hours trying to memorize. He saw _her_ curls. He had blinked and felt the fog leave his eyes as she sat down. She ordered a gin tonic and threw her hair over her shoulder and looked at him and asked him if he was nursing a broken heart. He told her he was. She laughed bitterly and said maybe I can help you with that. He saw something in her. He supposed it was the curls. Six months later they were married in a shower of gold. Part of him wished it had been another wedding. With _her_.

He spent a lot of his time thinking. Thinking and drinking. Often at the same time. He thought of her a lot. He wondered what she was doing, if she was happy, if she was still in Paris, if she was married. He wanted to ask Serena, but he was scared of the answer. His fantasies of her were better. He knew the reality would kill him. He wondered if it was normal to spend time thinking about a love from when he was twenty. Part of him knew it was wrong. Part of him wanted to stop. But mostly he didn't. The fantasies were all he had left of what could have been. And he thought that maybe that was what hurt the most…what could have been.

He saw it. Every time he closed his eyes he could picture it. They would be the King and Queen of the Upper East Side. They would be indestructible and perfect. They would have two kids. Audrey and Henry. Henry and Audrey. Audrey. The name even sounded like a fantasy. A time of change, of completion, of utter decadence. Henry. The name even sounded like redemption. A new beginning. A new time. A new era. And Henry would be a true prince. The prince and princess of their hearts. And the king and queen of each other's.

He sometimes wondered why he was with his wife. Then again he supposed it was easier than being alone. She had been there with him at his worst and yet she was still here. She had asked him once who the woman was that broke his heart when they had met. He looked at her and laughed and said I would have said anything to talk to you even lie about a broken love. If it had been _her_ she would have seen through it. She would have seen the truth. But she was gone. It had been five years ago and it still felt like yesterday he had watched her walk away, taking his heart with her in the process.

His wife's name was Vivian. She knew what she wanted and when she wanted something she got it. She saw what she was getting when she married him. She saw the title. She saw the namesake. She saw the value. On some days when he looked at her he saw empty eyes mirroring his own. He felt like he was pushed up against a wall with no way up or down. He was trapped in a pit of his own making. He knew one thing though. She would never leave him. She needed him too much. He was her way in and she would never give that up. Not for anything.

It was still dark on his way to work. He looked around the darkened limo. It looked exactly the same. Like nothing had changed. Of course that wasn't true everything had changed. He remembered the first time he had kissed her. It was like fire and ice. Heaven and hell. Desperation and truth. That was the night everything had changed.

When he walked inside his office his assistant immediately walked and began to read him his daily itinerary. He was barely listening until he heard her say something about meeting with the new assistants.

He looked at her perplexingly and said, "Why do_ I_ need to talk to the assistants? I am_ Chuck Bass_, the CEO of Bass industries. I do not have time for some silly assistants aspiring dreams."

His assistant immediately started to backtrack and pleadingly said, "Mr. Bass I understand that, it's just the board really thinks it is in your best interest to meet with the potential future of Bass Industries-"

He held up his hand in protest and rolled his eyes when he said, "Fine I will spare ten minutes no more and no less."

She looked relieved and enthusiastically nodded her head and began to continue reading off the rest of his schedule. He sighed and ignored her as he drummed his fingers in the fine mahogany of his desk until she left. He then began to fill out some pointless paperwork until the meeting with assistants.

He walked in the room, his eyes flashing, and his power literally radiating off him in waves. He looked around the room and smirked in satisfaction at the looks of identical fear on each of their faces. Before he could say anything the door opened and his eyes flashed over ready to reprimand the person who dare show up later than_ him_. And then he saw her and his heart stopped. Her appearance was undeniable. She had the skin of angels and the complexion of new snow. Her lips were a blood red. Tainted with the bitterness of unsealed innocence. Her hair was an arrangement of perfect curls topped with her signature headband.

She flicked her hair over to one shoulder and her eyes widened as she saw him standing in the center of the room. She had not been anticipating that. The tension in the room began to build. It was as if a rope had found its tether once more. But everyone in the room was unaware of it. All they saw was a married man looking at a beautiful woman like he had seen the light. A chill went up his back. Her lip quivered.

Her eyes met his in an explosion of light as she said, "Bass it has been a long time."

He was expressionless as he retorted, "Well Waldorf you were the one who made the rules I only played the game."

It always was the broken hearts that fall the hardest.

**A/N**

I have no idea where that came from. I really don't. But if I do continue it, things are going to get extremely intense. So review if you liked it if you didn't, pretty much whatever. **Also, unless I get response I will probably not make this a mutlichapter and will just end up making it a one-shot with some slight alterations. **Xoxo Kat

Also, the part about Audrey and Henry I wrote in a random collection of sentences I have about C&B and others that I thought worked here. It was actually me favorite part of this chapter.

Anyways review!


	2. Soul Meets Body

_I want to live where soul meets body__  
__And let the sun wrap its arms around me__  
__And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing__  
__And feel, feel what it's like to be new_

_Soul meets body._

_-Death Cab for Cutie_

Reality always was a fickle prospect. Coming in and out of focus. Until one day the smoke screen is lifted and everything stops. It takes just a single moment for everything to stop. But once it does there is no going back. These moments are unforgettable. Everything you do, anything you say, whatever you promise will always lead back to that moment. The moment where everything changed. The moment that defined you.

Chuck Bass was complex in the most literal sense of the word. People saw him for what he made himself. He hid beyond the name Chuck Bass. A name that spelled out arrogant, self-righteous and someone who would take down anything and anyone to stay at the top. People saw what he wanted them to see. What he let them see. Even his wife saw only the parts of him he would reveal to her. She didn't know he played the piano. She didn't know he had hated his father. She didn't know that in a long ago, forgotten kingdom he had met the love of his life. She didn't know about the moment that everything had changed. Or the moment where everything had ended. Or about the moment that was unfolding right in front of him.

The first moment was one of longing and irrevocable truths. It held with it reservations that neither of them wanted to face. That neither of them could dare believe. But in that single moment nothing else had mattered and both of them had dived in with no strings attached.

He remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered watching her take off her dress with lust filled stars in his eyes. He remembered the way her pearls fell off her and cracked at their feet. He remembered the way her curls shone bright in the dim ambiance of the limo. He remembered whispering three questioning syllables in her ear… 'Are you sure?' He remembered the way her chin moved as she nodded in response to his question. He remembered her porcelain skin and the way she quivered under his touch. He remembered the feel of her as she gave him something no one else would ever have. He remembered the way her eyes met his and the way silver and gold lights popped in his mind and for a moment he became convinced that this had to be what love felt like…

He remembered the first kiss, but he also remembered the last.

He remembered the way the darkness had fallen over her curls as she said the three words, 'It's over Chuck.' He remembered the tears that had fallen from her brown eyes. He remembered his own unshed tears that had felt hard in his throat. He remembered her hands on his cheeks as she pressed one final kiss to his lips. He remembered how unfinished it had felt. He remembered how her hand trailed down the side of his neck and down his arm before she left the room with his diamonds wrapped around her throat. He remembered when Serena had told him she had gone to Paris and wasn't coming back. He remembered boarding a plane to Paris. He remembered seeing her at a restaurant kissing a man that wasn't him. He remembered feeling the darkness cross his eyes and for a moment he became convinced that this had to be what being broken hearted felt like.

And now another moment was unfolding. A moment that he knew would change everything. A moment that made him want to run away before it could unfold. A moment that made him scared to look into her eyes. But he knew that one way or another this moment was going to happen.

Her voice broke through his thoughts as she said, "Bass it has been a long time."

He arranged his face into an expressionless mask of deception as he retorted, "Well Waldorf you were the one who made the rules I only played the game."

Her face had broken out into a smile that held with it the most sinister of prospects as she said, "Ah Bass I _always_ make the rules, you know that." She hesitated and that with a sinful twirl of her hair she added, "And I always get what I want."

Before he could respond she had sat down at the conference room table in her chair like it was a throne and gave the other assistants no sign of acknowledgement.

The other assistants watched the exchange with identical expressions of confusion mixed with intimidation. They all had the same question on their minds, how did a mere assistant make the CEO of Bass Industries lost for words? They all could see a scandal brewing, but the question remained was when.

He gave the assistants a menacing look that basically said if you question what just happened I will fire every one of your asses before you can say Chuck Bass.

He then took a slow, self-stabilizing breath and without any sign of greeting or a smile he said in a powerful tone, "The next few months at Bass Industries will be either the worst or best of your life. Out of the fifty of you sitting in this room only two of you will become permanent assistants." His eyes flashed as he added, "Bass Industries only takes the best and failure to impress will mean failure to keep a job."

He then gestured to the folder he was holding and said, "I have the list of the Bass Industries employees that you will be the second assistant to. This basically means that whatever the first assistant tell you to do you do it, no questions asked. Even if they ask you to strap yourself to the roof of a car and drive it. Do not say that is impossible, just do it or die trying. You may think my business practices are hard or cruel, but you don't get to the top by being soft."

The assistants exchanged fearful glances at each other and a slight wave of talking shifted throughout the group before Chuck said in a soft, menacing tone, "Under no circumstances can anyone talk when I am talking. Save your fearful questions for someone who wants to answer them. Continuing on, it is your job to find out which employee you have been matched to. Failure to find the right employee will result in immediate termination. I don't care if it takes you all day; just consider this your official coronation to Bass Industries."

Before anyone could question what he had said or what they should do next Chuck walked out of the room and laughed under his breath at the scene of confusion he had just walked out of it before his thoughts returned to Blair. What was she doing here? Why had she returned? Was it for _him_? No, no he could not think that way. He had given up on her a long time ago. He was married now to a woman that he told himself he loved. He shook his doubts out of his mind he had to love Vivian, she was safe and together they were the power couple of Manhattan. He could not help, but think that they may be a power couple, but they would _never_ be a king and a queen.

He knew he would have to stay away from Blair, he could not engage with her because if he did it would never end. And he could lose everything. A small voice in the back of his head spoke against his resolution and said or _gain_ everything. He shook the thought out of his mind and went to his 11 o clock meeting with the financers of the Empire.

He came back into his office with a pounding head ache and a compulsive need for a scotch. He walked over to the cabinet on the far side of his office and poured himself a scotch into a crystal glass. He watched as the amber liquid meshed with the crystal to create a sparkling color. It looked a little like fire he supposed. As he turned around he almost dropped his glass as he saw _her_ sitting in the edge of his desk. Her short skirt had ridden up slightly and he could see the creamy white of her skin. She had taken her hair down so as her curls fell low down her back. They were longer than before. Her red lipstick gave her the appearance of an angel drawn to the dark side as the corners of her lips turned up into a relentless smirk as she whispered, "I found you Bass."

He gazed at her reproachfully for a second before saying, "You are not my new assistant Waldorf, the girl's name was Mary-"

She laughed and finished his statement by saying, "Mary Evans, that girl was hopelessly confused. She was an alcoholic you see, the Ostroff Center was happy to take her after I kindly called and set her up a room. Oh and of course I was glad to take up her position as your assistant because I ask you who better than me?"

On the outside he glared at her, but inwardly he could not help but think that time had not changed her wit as he replied without acknowledging her comment, "Blair, what are you doing here?"

She gave an airy laugh and said, "Oh this and that, you see New York was calling me home."

He could not help, but here the connotation of something else as he replied with an eye roll, "That's bullshit Blair, what are you really doing here?"

She gave a bitter laugh and replied with a slight edge of seduction, "Bass I thought you loved the game. The thrill of the unknown, the ecstasy of the chase, and the glory of the price."

He had no light in his eyes as he said, "I used to, but I have grown tired of playing."

She put her hand on his cheek and whispered, "Tell me why Chuck."

He watched as she put her other hand on her collarbone and began to trace an unidentifiable pattern into her skin. His eyes followed her hand and as if in a haze he said, "I'm married now."

She laughed a high pitched laugh. It sounded slightly cracked to him. She dropped her hand from his face and whispered into his ear, "Well that just makes it all the more thrilling."

She had moved away from him as quickly as she had come. And with a flick of her curls she stepped off his desk and began to sway her hips in synchronization as she began to walk towards the door.

He watched her in utter captivation as she turned back towards him and said, "Oh and Bass remember just because you stopped playing the game doesn't mean you stopped wanting the price."

She left him with only one though in mind, _what he would to have the price._

**A/N**

Hi guys! Wow that was quite a response! Huge thank you to anyone who reviewed followed or favorited last chapter you guys are amazing! I am really sorry it took me so long to write this I have been quite busy, but nevertheless here it is! I have decided to make this a multichapter, but reviews etc etc. will determine how frequent the updates are!

Anyways let me know what you think of this chapter! Why is Blair back, does she want Chuck back? Will Chuck play Blair's game? Do you want to meet Vivian and what does she seem like so far?

**Shoot me a review with thoughts, feedback, if you like it, if you didn't, basically anything!**


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